About

Volcanos

On March 10, 2011, I attended a campus wide experience that was showing a volcano documentary by Maurice and Katia Krafft. They were born and raised in France and would like to retire in Hawaii. They are writers, movie makers, and scientists. In 1988, they circled the globe 8 times to study the many volcanoes of the earth. They love to photograph the many shield volcanoes in Hawaii because they are constantly erupting. To them, their perfect paradise is described as a lava lake not a paradise with crystal clear waters and sunny skies. They were attracted to fire since Maurice was 8 and Katia was 14. They transformed their passion to a way of life. Also in 1988, they had a trip to Africa and visited the volcano Longui. It was very steep and had flowing lava that was not red but black. It is rich in minerals and that’s what gives it the black color. What was strange was that the black lava became white within 24 hours and at night it was red. On their journey, they also visited a 200 meter high volcano in Indonesia called Nuee ardente. It explodes with an avalanche of gases and rocks and is considered extremely dangerous. New volcanoes rumble a lot causing earthquakes and landslides. The couple keeps reminders from journeys they have been on including a skull, an exploded tree trunk, and cassettes from former volcanologists who died 90 meters from an eruption. They spoke about their notorious Indonesia trip where they took a boat into a volcanic lake where the gases were burning and the lake was full of sulfuric acid. They were criticized for taking an “unnecessary risk” by entering the lake. On March 25, Maurice’s’ birthday, they visited a volcano that was known to have no volcanic eruption, but on that day, Pelee gave him a present and volcanoes erupted on his birthday for 3 weeks. They describe volcanoes as a show, never the same, always wonderful.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...Volcanoes
By: BJ
E-mail: Bran18@aol.com
I. Introduction Volcano: defined is a mountain or hill formed by the accumulation of materials erupted through one or more openings (called volcanic vents) in the earth's surface. The term volcano can also refer to the vents themselves. Most volcanoes have steep sides, but some can be gently sloping mountains or even flat tablelands, plateaus, or plains. The volcanoes above sea level are the best known, but the vast majority of the world's volcanoes lie beneath the sea, formed along the global oceanic ridge systems that crisscross the deep ocean floor. According to the Smithsonian Institution, 1511 above-sea volcanoes have been active during the past 10,000 years, 539 of them erupting one or more times during written history. On average, 50 to 60 above-sea volcanoes worldwide are active in any given year; about half of these are continuations of eruptions from previous years, and the rest are new. Mount St. Helen Volcanic eruptions in populated regions are a significant threat to people, property, and agriculture. The danger is mostly from fast-moving, hot flows of explosively erupted materials, falling ash, and highly destructive lava flows and volcanic debris flows. In addition, explosive eruptions, even from volcanoes in unpopulated regions, can eject ash high into the atmosphere, creating drifting volcanic ash clouds that pose a serious hazard to airplanes. II. Volcano...

...A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash and gases to escape from below the surface. The lifespan of a volcano can be about from a few months to a million years. A very popular way of classifying the volcanoes based on the frequency of their eruptions. Magma is molten rock within the earth’s crust. When magma erupts through the earth’s surface it is called lava. Lava can be thick and slow-moving or thin and fast-moving. Rocks also come from volcanoes in other forms, including ash (finely powdered rock that looks like dark smoke coming from the volcanoes), cinders (bits of fragmented lava), and pumice (light-weight rock that is full of air bubbles and is formed in explosive volcanic eruptions - this type of rock can float on water). The largest volcano on the earth is Mauna Loa located in Hawaii. This volcano is about 10,000m from the sea floor to the summit. It rises 4000m above sea level. The most active volcano is Mount St. Helens located in Washington state.
TYPES OF VOLCANOES
1. Active volcanoes
2. Dormant volcanoes
3. Extinct volcanoes
ACTIVE VOLCANOES
Volcanoes which erupt frequently are called active volcanoes. Active volcanoes are those which erupted lava, gases, pumice, cinder etc in the recent historic periods. Presently there are about 500 active volcanoes around the earth of which most of them are located in...

...﻿MONTSERRAT VOLCANO REPORT
Montserrat is a small island is in the Caribbean. It is only 12 miles long and 7 miles wide.
It is known as the 'Emerald Island' Because of its mountainous and wooded terrain. It has attracted many rich people to the island and was famous for rock stars recording there.
However, much of the population are poor and rely on farming to survive. Before the eruptions from 1995 onwards – There was over 12000 people living there, but now there is only about 5000.
CAUSES OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT MONTSERRAT
Montserrat lies on a destructive plate boundary. When the two plates merge – the oceanic plate is subducted under the continental one. As it is forced down there is an increase in pressure and friction causing small earthquakes quite often. As the crust is pushed down further into the mantle, the crust melts to form magma. Magma is constantly trying to escape the mantle and when it succeeds it can form a volcano like the one at Montserrat.
THE ERUPTIONS FROM 1995-!998
1992 - The first Earthquakes begin to appear
1995 - The volcano erupts after being dormant for 350 years
1996 - The volcano continued to erupt and became
more violent causing increased damage.
1997 - Large eruptions continued with the dome
collapsing and large pyroclastic flows affecting
much of the island
In 1995 Soufriere Hills volcano...

...ways of this volcano, is what makes it unique. Because of its tectonic setting, there are many hazards involved, as well as potential for damage. The history of this volcano explains that, and other super volcanoes help explain what could potentially happen when Yellowstone finally does erupt.
Tectonic Setting:
To begin, the tectonic setting of north western Wyoming explains a lot about Yellowstone. The crust underneath Yellowstone is restless. There are some major faults along the Teton, Madison and Gallatin Ranges that pass through Yellowstone; these all existed before the volcano was there. The North American plate is the biggest plate that Yellowstone is interacting with. There is a divergent boundary along where Yellowstone and the North American plate meet. The most apparent faults in Yellowstone are as follows; the Minor Plateau Faults younger section, Post – Lava Creek faults in North Western Yellowstone, Mallard Lake resurgent dome faults, Elephant Back fault zone, and Sour Creek dome faults.
Main Hazard:
Equally important, Yellowstone has many main hazards. Yellowstone is a super volcano. The difference between a normal volcano and a super volcano is not very obvious until you look at the inside structure. A normal volcano typically has a single column of magma that comes from within the earth. It breaks through the top of the mountain...

...Volcano Essay
A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash and gases to escape from below the surface. It is a raised area of land, which usually forms a mountain or hill. Volcanoes are generally found along tectonic plates- diverging or converging. There are four main types of volcanoes, dome, shield, composite cone and cinder cone, which are based on their shape. There are three levels of activity, active, dormant and extinct.
Mt.Tambora, located on Sumbawa Island off Indonesia, erupted on April 10th in 1815 and is still known as the deadliest eruption today. It killed around 91,00 people. Mt.Tambora is a composite cone volcano and is still active today. The 1815 eruption consisted of mostly volcanic ash, which was so large it went up into the stratosphere and spread throughout the earth. Within seconds, ash, lava and molten rock (pyroclastic flow) started to speedily come down the volcano. The temperature of that was about 1,250°C. The pyroclastic flow totally destroyed a small Indonesian town, just a few kilometers from Mt.Tambora. The entire population of the town was instantly killed. Before Mt.Tambora erupted, it is estimated to have been about 4,000m tall. The eruption reduced it to 2851m, and left behind a caldera with a 7km diameter. There were no really early signs of eruption but there were some a few days before. They did not have...

...Isles Bay.
The island is part of an Island Arc that lies across a destructive margin between the Caribbean plate and North American plate. Subduction of the Caribbean plate moving east, and the North American moving west cause friction in the subduction zone and this is what causing the volcano to be so active. The volcano was previously dormant for 300 years so the eruption came as a shock to everyone. The eruption was andesitic and very explosive, with lots of ash and lava being thrown into the air and lava covering parts of the island.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
DATE
EVENTS
18th July 1995
Chances Peak volcano erupts for the first time in 350 years. 5000 people evacuated from the southern end after the volcano began spewing ash and rock.
April 1996
Britain announces that Montserratians will be granted residency and the right to work in the UK for up to two years.
18th May 1996
During the week a series of eruptions from the volcano in the Soufriere hills on the island of Montserrat send a plume of ash and rock soaring 3,000 feet.
September 17th 1996
The Soufriere hills volcano on the island of Montserrat erupted for 48 minutes.
June 25th 1997
The volcano spewed more rock and hot ash and killed 6 people while 17 were reported missing. Plymouth, the capital, is abandoned. Montserrat's airport is closed, the island is accessible only by...

...Volcano Facts
Hot! Fire! Destruction! These are words that most
people associate with volcanoes. But some good effects can
come out of volcanoes. Volcanoes also have their own
special mythology associated with them. A lot of volcanoes
have some general characteristics in common. There are many
volcanoes around the world and some have special
characteristics. So come along and take a trip with me into
the wonderful and exciting world of volcanoes.
Over 550 volcanoes have erupted on the surface of the
Earth since human kind has been able to record history.
Their destructiveness has claimed the lives of over 200,000
people during the last 500 years with 26,000 deaths between
1980 and 1990 alone. They have also cause an innumerable
amount of property damage.
The biggest eruption of the twentieth century was the
eruption of Novarupta on the peninsula of Alaska. The
amount of lava that erupted measured to roughly 15 cubic
kilometers! All of the lava erupted equaled to the amount
of 30 times the amount of lava that came from Mount Saint
Helens and it is also the equivalent of 230 years of
eruptions at Mount Kilauea. The eruption lasted for 60
hours on June 6, 1920.
The biggest eruption, despite its size, was not the
most destructive, for the most destructive was the eruption
of Mount Saint Helens in Oregon during the week of May 18th,
1980. This eruption mainly caused just loss of...

...﻿Mt Etna Volcano Research
Basic Information of the Volcano
The Location and Height of Mt Etna
Mt Etna is Europe’s tallest and active volcano. It is 3340 m over the city of Catania which is located on the east coast of Sicily. More than 25% of Sicily people live on the slopes of Mt Etna, agriculture and tourism are the major sources of income on this island.
How it was formed, the Tectonic Plates Involved and What Type of Volcano is it?
Mt Etna is a stratovolcano ( another name is a composite cone) which means that multiple layers of ash and solidified lava have formed this volcano. Mount Etna is formed on a convergent plate boundary, on two of the world’s active continental plates- the African and The Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian and African plates are moving past each other along most of the boundary, making it a conservative boundary. Many scientists now believe that the African Plate is actually going underneath the Eurasian Plate which implies that they are acting as a destructive boundary instead of a conservative boundary. Therefore, when the African plate went under the Eurasian plate friction occurred, magma was forced towards the surface, thus creating the volcano of Mt Etna.
Periods of activity
Mt Etna is an ‘unusual’ volcano and its eruptions are still taking place and because it is such a large volcano with many craters eruptions can happen multiple...